Journal of Educational Sciences > Volume 27, No. 2, 2015

Effect of Some Demographics’ Variables on the Availability Degree of Entrepreneurial Skills of Sultan Qaboos University Students / Wajeha Thabit Al-Ani, Aisha Salim Al-Harthi

Acquiring the entrepreneurship culture for university students has become a necessity to enter the competitive labor market. This study aims to investigate the availability of entrepreneurship skills and the effect of some demographic variables. The study used a descriptive research design with a questionnaire of 65 skills. The study sample was 592 students at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. Study results showed that SQU students possessed these skills at a moderate to a high level with the highest mean score for personal skills and the lowest mean score for technical skills. For the effect of demographic variables, gender differences showed statistical significance differences (α=0.05) for the leadership skills favoring female students. Statistical differences were also found in the desire variable favoring those with a desire to start an entrepreneurial project compared with those who did not report this desire, the college variable favoring colleges of medicine, education and engineering, and the housing variable favoring students living on campus compared with that off-campus with a family. No statistical differences were found for the entrepreneurial experience variable. The study concluded with some recommendations, which included establishing training strategies for university students in entrepreneurship with systems and regulations to sponsor their entrepreneurial initiative.
Keywords: entrepreneurial skills, demographic variables, gender, desire, residence, college.